Jacquie McLellan and her husband Richard moved to Perth in 2020 and are enjoying retired life. The pair enjoy spending time with family and being involved in their community. On Thanksgiving weekend 2024, the family had come together for dinner, but no one was expecting Jacquie to be transported to Kingston General Hospital with Ornge the following day.

It began Monday evening when Jacquie noticed she had developed a strong headache and suddenly became nauseous. Her husband Richard called their daughter Lorri, who lives just around the corner and is a paramedic with Ornge, asking her to come over right away. She arrived a few minutes later, and 9-1-1 was called.

The paramedics transported Jacquie to the local Perth hospital, and after a quick assessment, she was moved to the Smiths Falls District Hospital for a head CT. It was there where doctors confirmed she was experiencing a subarachnoid hemorrhage and would need to be quickly moved to a hospital that provided neurological care. Clinical staff made the decision to request a transport with Ornge. 

“It was Kingston that accepted me as a patient, but Kingston is about an hour and 15-minute drive from here, on  country roads that are winding, with lots of hills, so everybody agreed that they thought it better if I got there faster because it was a substantial bleed,” said Jacquie

Paramedics Heather and Marcie cared for Jacquie on the flight from Smiths Falls to Kingston General Hospital, providing interventions to manage high blood pressure and pain. The neurologist was convinced that Jacquie was suffering from an aneurysm, however, her official diagnosis was a rare, spontaneous brain bleed. 

“The neurologist was positive that I had an aneurysm. He was so sure that’s what it was, but they did not find one. The spontaneous bleed that I did have is very rare, but the good news is they do not anticipate that ever happening again because there’s really no cause for it,” said Jacquie. 

Jacquie spent two weeks recovering at the Kingston hospital ICU. While there, Jacquie became more obtunded, and required an EVD, an extra ventricular drain, to be placed. The remainder of her stay was on the neurology floor, where she underwent more testing and recovery work with the physiotherapist.

“They called my husband the next day, and they said that they needed to put a drain in to bring the blood away. When I was leaving the hospital, they said we’re going to take the drain out, and I’m thinking, ‘where’s the drain?’ So, I was quite out of it, out of reality for the most part,” said Jacquie. 

Throughout her journey, Jacquie has been thankful for support from her daughter, Lorri, as she brought such a sense of comfort to her and her husband since Lorri could more clearly understand the “medical talk” and help them anticipate next steps. Also knowing the rigorous training Ornge paramedics undergo, Jacquie said it made her feel all the more taken care of when it was Ornge who answered her transport call.

“We relied on Lorri very much throughout the entire process to explain what was happening, where it’s going to go from there. My husband said that it was amazing to have her there as an advocate to explain things to us, especially because we’re not medical people and we really didn’t fully understand what was going on,” said Jacquie. 

Jacquie also got the chance to be reunited with Pascal, Oleksandr, Heather and Marcie. As Jacquie has no memory of the time spent in Ornge's care, she said this visit was very meaningful to her. She wanted to be able to say thank you in person to the team who had helped to save her life. 

“I truly wanted to see their faces and say thank you because, wow. They made all the difference getting me there that quickly,” said Jacquie. “There’s so much to say. I’m very grateful for the skills of the pilots and for the skills of the paramedics. They deal with things most of us have never really seen in our lifetime. They are an incredible, very special breed of people.” 

Jacquie has made a fantastic recovery and is back at home, where she continues to enjoy spending time with her family and friends and her volunteer activities in Perth.

We would like to acknowledge the work put in by the paramedics, pilots and operations control to make for a kind and compassionate transport for Jacquie. Your dedication to our patients and our values does not go unnoticed, and this is especially true to Jacquie, her husband and the rest of her family. 

“I think that everybody who works at Ornge and does that job loves that job, they love being able to help people, and they are very kind and compassionate and respectful and professional. I’m so grateful that the team of Ornge comes together to take care of us all,” said Jacquie.

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• Patients and Families